Ashes 2023 | Twitter in splits as Broad resorts to 'black magic' to dismiss sturdy Labuschagne

07/28/2023

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Every team has characters that are constantly indulging in some kind of mischief to throw the opposition of their game. Over the years, Stuart Broad has certainly had his fair share of antics and was back to it on Friday as his 'trick' with the bails saw England break a 156-ball partnership.

England found wickets hard to come by early on Day 2 at The Oval in the fifth Ashes Test but eventually found their mojo as Australia whittled down to 185/7 while trying to surpass the hosts' first innings score of 186/7. While it was Usman Khawaja's wicket in the first over after Lunch that truly triggered a collapse, the English managed to inflict their first blow of the day in the first session when Mark Wood got rid of Marnus Labuschagne to end an all-important partnership for Australia that had lasted a good 26 overs. While the express speedster took the credit in the scorecard, Wood had fellow pacer Stuart Broad lot to thank for as his absurd shenanigans seemed to have played a part in invoking the dismissal.

It was the 43rd over of the innings and even though Labuschagne had found runs had to come by, he had dug deep to survive 81 balls for his tally of 9 runs, including a body blow by Wood. While the right-arm quick returned to his mark to bowl the penultimate ball of his over, Broad walked over to the batter's end and without explanation swapped the bails around on the stumps. Marnus, having curiously watched him perform the stunt, looked over at the non-striker's end with a hint of confusion in his face and eventually broke into a wide grin as Khawaja looked on. The very next ball, the 29-year-old uncharacteristically poked at a delivery just wide off the stumps and ended up edging the ball to Joe Root at first slip.

Broad looked extremely pleased with himself and instead of straightaway running to Wood to celebrate the dismissal, the veteran went over to Khawaja at the non-striker's end and placed a hand on his shoulders, seemingly offering a comment about the incident, while patting him on the back with his other hand. Labuschagne, on the other hand, was raging and spared a mouthful at the umpire as he went off albeit his words were inaudible. Twitterati could not believe the ridiculous sequence of events and quickly took to social media to pitch their conspiracy theories.

Incredible

𝗡𝗮𝗺𝗲: Stuart Broad

𝗢𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Mind Games Extraordinaire

Incredible, Broady 😂👏 #EnglandCricket | #Ashes pic.twitter.com/MdeuNgrN2F
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 28, 2023

Black magic

Bengali broad https://t.co/dx2HVK5V6R
— pinkman (@hanma7890) July 28, 2023

Superb

This should go down as a Broad wicket. Superb work https://t.co/cBI3CwHMAn
— Daniel Hall (@danhall86) July 28, 2023

Dark arts

Stuart Broad practising the dark arts at The Oval. https://t.co/7eEmG4arBm
— Vishal Agnihotri (@Dilliwasi) July 28, 2023

The Tanktrik

Broad - The Tantrik https://t.co/CCE1TviKkz
— Sheldon Cooper, FTW (@Bazingaaa24) July 28, 2023

World Class

Broad flipping round the bails to break the concentration of ML was world class cricket shithousery - he went the next ball. #Ashes23
— Mark Preston (@Prestonhcafc) July 28, 2023

Cheap?

Such cheap tactics by Stuart broad… and these guys talk about spirit of the game !! #Ashes2023 #Australia #ENGvAUS
— Siddharth Bothra (@Siddhar78177902) July 28, 2023

He won't